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As a fitting kickoff to Earth Day weekend, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) has announced the 2018 recipients of its COTE Top Ten Awards. Honoring ten projects that have surpassed rigorous thresholds in integration, energy use, water conservation, and wellness benchmarks, the award showcases cutting-edge buildings that are not only sustainable, but that contribute to the surrounding neighborhood. This year’s jury included:

Michelle Addington, Dean, School of Architecture, The University of Texas Austin Austin, Texas

Jennifer Devlin-Herbert, FAIA, EHDD. San Francisco

Kevin Schorn, AIA, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, New York

Julie V. Snow, FAIA, Snow Kreilich, Minneapolis

Susan Ubbelohde, LOISOS + UBBELOHDE, Alameda, California

The 2018 awardees ranged in usage from libraries to art galleries, as well as one single-family home. While the COTE Top Ten Awards are given to buildings that meet certain requirements, an additional “Top Ten Plus Award” is handed out to a single project with exceptional post-occupancy performance. The winners are as follows:
Albion District Library; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Architect: Perkins+Will
According to the jury: "This project clearly demonstrates the immediate positive impact of good design. A district library that serves a diverse and newly-immigrant community, the library has a dramatically increased visitorship (with a notable 75 percent increase for teenagers) over the old facility."Georgia Tech Engineered Biosystems Building; Atlanta, Georgia
Architect: Lake|Flato in collaboration with Cooper Carry
According to the jury: "The Georgia Tech Engineered Biosystems Building weaves a large array of active and passive strategies into a highly tuned machine for this university research laboratory."Mundo Verde at Cook Campus; Washington
Architect: Studio Twenty Seven Architecture
According to the jury: "A 25,000-gallon cistern holds rainwater for reuse, while the gardens have increased site vegetation from zero to 40 percent."Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House; San Francisco
Architect: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
According to the jury: "This cost-effective building serves a community of sick children and their families while prioritizing environmental performance."New United States Courthouse; Los Angeles; Los Angeles
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
According to the jury: "We were impressed with the quality of the calm, light-filled interior spaces for occupants who are often in the courthouse under difficult circumstances."The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Washington, D.C.
Architect: DLR Group
According to the jury: "The Renwick Gallery renovation wove complex and robust new systems while preserving the impressive historic design and collection and allowing opportunities for new works to be displayed."San Francisco Art Institute - Fort Mason Center Pier 2; San Francisco
Architect: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
According to the jury: "The design team recognized the assets of the existing structure and created a great, low-energy building with a healthy interior environment."Sawmill; Tehachapi, California
Architect: Olson Kundig
According to the jury: "The team is commended for their site-specific analysis, as evidenced by the decision to let rainwater recharge the water table rather than collect it. If a single-family dwelling is to be built in a desert climate, this is how to do it."Sonoma Academy’s Janet Durgin Guild & Commons; Santa Rosa, California
Architect: WRNS Studio
According to the jury: "This project demonstrates that, even with an energy-heavy program that includes a commercial kitchen, a fully integrated and dedicated design team can produce a beautiful and extremely well-performing building."Top Ten Plus winner:Ortlieb's Bottling House; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Architect: KieranTimberlake
According to the jury: "An exceptional example of passive strategies used in adaptive reuse of an historic urban building."

Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, the second largest mall in the U.S., is eyeing a $150-to-$250 million expansion in the form of an enormous indoor water park. On Tuesday, multinational conglomerate and Mall of America owners Triple Five pitched the DLR Group-designed, 225,000-square foot water park to Bloomington’s Port Authority, asking if the city–and taxpayers–would be willing to foot the bill.
The project is still speculative, but Triple Five’s proposal would lease a portion of the mall’s forthcoming expansion to the city, who would also lend Triple Five the money they need to build the park and also hire the group to operate it. The proposed public-private partnership was raised out of necessity, as Triple Five has expressed that borrowing money through the city was the only way to capture low enough interest rates for the water park to be profitable.
DLR Group has been tapped to design the park, and from the rendering released by Triple Five, the design seems heavily influenced by the World Waterpark at the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. The park’s current iteration would replace what is currently a parking lot, and the main building resembles a glassy aircraft hangar set within a semi-circular roundabout leading to parking further inland. Continuing the motif, curvilinear sky bridges will wrap around the site and connect the park to the rest of the mall’s complexes. While it’s too early in the planning process to confirm what kinds of attractions the park would hold, pools, wave generators, and a tangle of waterslides are all likely to make the cut.
City officials will be conducting a feasibility study of the park, including the logistics of constructing and financing the park, and if it can remain viable in the long term. The water park is just one piece of a potential expansion, with Triple Five also seeking to possibly build hotels, convention centers, or a sports arena on the eastern-most portion of the mall’s property.
While the fate of the Mall of America water park might be uncertain, Triple Five has been keeping busy with similar projects elsewhere; the $1.2 billion American Dream Meadowlands megamall will be opening in Rutherford, New Jersey next year with a water park of its own.

DLR Group is currently at work repurposing an existing 1980s-era county jail in Phoenix, Arizona, as a new, state-of-the-art office space owned by Maricopa County. The now-decommissioned jail was originally designed to hold 700 inmates, but its population eventually swelled, incarcerating between 1,200 and 1,500 individuals at a time over the last decade of its life. The jail was decommissioned in the early 2000s and has sat vacant for a decade. After DLR Group’s planned renovations, however, the complex will have new life, and will house six levels of daylit office space and ground-floor community areas.

“The basic approach was to remove everything back to the superstructure and start over,” Larry Smith, principal in charge of DLR Group’s southwest division, said. Smith explained that the 350,000-square-foot structure will be surgically altered in order to absorb the new office functions.

Planned changes include completely removing the structure’s four mezzanine levels and replacing its exit stairs. The existing stairs are located awkwardly within each of the four square-shaped lobes of the complex, impeding open floor plan configurations. They will be demolished and their footprints filled, with new exit stairs to be located at each corner, beyond the existing building envelope, instead. These new glass-clad circulation cores will complement a new communicating stair at the center of the complex that will be topped by a solar light monitor designed to bring light into the building’s center.

The removal of the mezzanines will lower the overall size of the project to 270,000 square feet and raise floor-to-floor heights to roughly 16 feet. The arrangement allows designers to add a raised floor plenum housing ducts, telecommunications, and electrical and plumbing infrastructure to each level. Also as a result, the old cell windows—a thin, horizontal band of glass set in from the exterior facade—now act as ribbon windows that will wash interior surfaces with reflected sunlight. Closer to the floor, a second continuous band of windows measuring 32 inches tall will wrap the perimeter of every level. Along the southern facade, this ribbon window is wrapped by a louver assembly made from aluminum plates. New planted terraces will rise through the structure’s perimeter.

Along the ground floor, new entry lobbies will embrace surrounding street life and create a “changing entry procession from the new entry on the street to the lobby and then security zone” for new users, Megan Duffy, senior interior designer at DLR Group, said. The complex will feature community rooms on these levels as well as a large planted plaza along the street.

Demolition phase for the project starts this fall; DLR Group expects to finish construction at the end of 2019.

When the City of Portland converted its 600 municipally-owned single-stall restrooms into all-gender facilities back in 2016, the change included converting two multi-stall, single-gendered restrooms on the second floor of Michael Graves’s iconic Portland Building to all-gender facilities, as well. The multi-stall, all-gender restroom change is part of a city pilot program the city developed in conjunction with the $195 million renovation to Graves’s postmodern masterpiece led by architects DLR Group. The city is pursuing various alternatives to single-gendered bathroom facilities as a result of the passage of a recent bill aimed at “removing barriers to a safe and inclusive workplace for employees… creating spaces which are welcoming to all visitors, and… treating all people with respect and dignity,” according to the resolution instituting the changes. City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, originally one of the proponents behind the move toward all-gender bathrooms, was not happy with the result in the multi-stall facilities, however, Willamette Weekreports.The Portland City Commission has been meeting in the Portland Building while their usual meeting facilities undergo repairs and, after an inspection, the commissioner became critical of the new arrangement, saying via email to other commissioners, “Being alone in the facility, I was able to stand on the commode in one stall and peer over the top of the divider into the next. It is also easy to peer under the dividers.” Fritz even threatened to refuse to attend the meetings unless something was done about the situation.As a result of the tussle, City authorities moved in March to convert one of the two multi-stall restrooms on the second floor of the Portland Building back to a single-gendered, women’s room. In exchange, one of the multi-stall women’s rooms on the ground floor was converted to an all-gender facility. The change left some, like City Commissioner Nick Fish—an early supporter of all-gender restrooms who originally brought the resolution to Council last year—happier than they were before. Fish told Willamette Week that having all-gender facilities on two floors was better than having them only on one.
But still, as Fritz pointed out, the design of the all-gender facilities leaves much to be desired in terms of privacy. The controversy will likely serve as a valuable lesson as the city’s pilot program—and not to mention the renovations to the Portland Building—move forward.
The move comes as President Trump has moved in recent weeks to strip students the right to use bathrooms that coordinate with their preferred gender identity and amid a wider cultural rift regarding the use of bathrooms resulting from the passage of North Carolina’s controversial and discriminatory HB 2—the Public Facilities Privacy and —which sought to make it illegal for cities to expand anti-discrimination protections in public places and workplaces in the state.

By this time next year, Flint, Michigan’s, Capitol Theatre will once again host live performances. Opened in 1928, the historic theater was designed by John Eberson, and was once the largest theater in Flint. Under the design guidance of DLR Group|Westlake Reed Leskosky, renovations of the building will be completed by the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018. The Whiting, another theater in Flint, and the not-for-profit Uptown Reinvestment Corporation are spearheading the project.
“The Capitol Theatre was once the community’s living room so-to-speak, where residents gathered for shared cultural experiences and live entertainment,” said Jarret M. Haynes, Executive Director of The Whiting. “The Capitol’s re-opening will deepen the impact of our vibrant arts community and become a resource to foster creativity right here in Flint. We are so proud to bring this treasure back to the city and look forward to welcoming visitors from the city and region for generations to come.”
The Capitol Theatre was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1985, but it has laid vacant since 1996. Starting in 1970s the 1,600-seat theater played host to many popular acts, including Ray Charles, AC/DC, John Mellencamp, Green Day, and Black Sabbath. The experience of the theater was so designed to evoke the idea of sitting in an outdoor amphitheater. The restoration will bring back many of the theater’s original details while updating its technology.
Restorations will be extensive, on the interior and exterior of the building. The original 1928 facade will be fully restored with its intricate terracotta ornament. The ceiling of the auditorium will be restored to its sky-like appearance, to include lighting special effects that mimic the transition of day and night. Decorative plasterwork and statuary throughout the building will also be brought back to its former glory. A new marquee and sign are already visible on the building, which started restorations in mid-2016.
While the theater may be brought back to its original aesthetics, its new technology will be state-of-the-art. While the theater seats will be replicas of the originals, the sound, acoustics, lighting, backstage, and front-of-house will all be updated. Along with updating the performance space, 25,000 square feet of office and retail space will be reopened in the building. When completed, it is hoped that the theater will host about 100 events a year, attracting more than 60,000 guests annually.
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The seven-story, 220,000-square-foot T3 office building in Minneapolis’s North Loop district will become the tallest modern wood building in the U.S. when it opens tomorrow. Designed by Michael Green Architecture and the DLR Group, the T3—which stands for Timber, Technology, Transit—features nail-laminated timber (NLT) clad in weathering steel.
While the building resembles the nearby historic warehouses in the district, its efficient structural system is about one-fifth the weight of a similarly sized concrete building, according to StructureCraft, which worked on the project. Leaving the interiors bare also eliminated costly coverings. StructureCraft fabricated T3's NLT panels in nearby Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was able to build 180,000 square feet of timber framing in less than 10 weeks. Typically, the estimated time of construction in a timber building is an average of nine days per floor.
The NLT panels were combined with a spruce glulam post-and-beam frame and a concrete slab. Most of the wood used came from the Pacific Northwest region, sustainably harvested after being killed by the mountain pine beetle, and all of the wood was certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Guidelines.
The result is a simple massing with an airy brightness, thanks to the exposed wood. “This will have the ambiance of the old warehouses with timber beams that everyone wants, but solves all the problems of energy efficiency and light,” real estate firm Hines director Bob Pfefferle told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Timber frame construction has been praised as an environmentally responsible choice. In addition to being made from sustainable lumber, which is less energy-intensive to extract, the building will sequester about 3,200 tons of carbon. However, mass timber construction has been slow to take off—T3, for example, was supposed to break ground back in November 2015. Thankfully, a slew of timber-framed buildings is set to open in the next year—perhaps ushering in a new era of downtown towers.

El Niño may be predicted, but life in the west is still parched. With an eye towards climate change, California’s State Architect has enlisted seven noteworthy architecture firms to develop seven case studies in sustainable school design, for seven representative school campuses.
7x7x7: Design, Energy, Water is an initiative to address the state’s aging school facilities with design concepts that will reduce energy and water consumption at campuses.
The architectural firms selected to develop case studies for 7x7x7 are Aedis Architects (San Jose), DLR Group (Riverside), Ehrlich Architects (Culver City), Hamilton + Aitken Architects (San Francisco), HGA Architects (Santa Monica), Lionakis (Sacramento), and WRNS Studio (San Francisco.)
“These are cutting-edge firms doing visionary work to promote sustainability in architectural design, and we are very fortunate to have them contribute their creativity and expertise,” said state architect Chester A. Widom in a statement.
According to the press release from Department of General Services, 7x7x7 is in keeping with Governor Brown’s ambitious climate change and sustainability goals outlined in Executive Order B-18-12, Proposition 39, and the Governor’s 2015 inaugural speech.
“The ultimate goal of 7x7x7 is to initiate a conversation among school superintendents, school facilities personnel, boards of education, and other key decision makers for school construction, so that we all reimagine together how schools can be renovated to reduce energy and water usage and create great opportunities for education,” explained Widom, noting that school buildings around the state have “great bones” and offer renovation and modernization opportunities.
The architects’ case studies will be presented during events scheduled at the end of January 2016 along with an executive summary written by architect and editor Tim Culvahouse. A “call to action” event will follow with the launch of a publication in February 2016.

One of the insider landmarks of Beverly Hills is the Tower of Hope, an art-covered oil derrick that sits at the edge of Beverly Hills High School, clearly visible from Pico Boulevard. Covered with fabric panels painted with colorful flowers by young hospital patients, the 155-foot-tall tower is a remnant from the days when the area was covered with oil fields (the high school once contained almost 20), and it's become a popular visiting spot. It also still pumps oil, for Denver-based Venoco, with some of the proceeds going to the school. But Beverly Hills High's major expansion plans call for removing the well altogether.
The school's new campus, designed by DLR Group, will include a renovation of the original 1928 buildings (including administrative, library, dining, and auditorium spaces), improvements to the playing fields, a new athletic building, and a modernization and re-skinning of its less attractive 1960s era one, which contains classrooms. The 510,000 square foot, $150 million project will be brought together with green spaces, plazas, and pathways, replacing a street that once ran through the campus. "The school board wasn't happy with how the old and new buildings used to have no dialogue at all," said DLR Group Principal Brett Hobza.
The renovation plan will not, most likely, contain the tower, which was conceived in 2000 by local artist and writer Ed Massey. Site plans now include a new softball field on the site, said DLR Group principal Brett Hobza. Venoco's oil field lease is up in 2016, and at that time it will revert back to Beverly Hills Unified School District. The district would not comment on what they have called a "politically charged" issue. Venoco spokesperson Steve Greig acknowledged that if the oil field lease (which Veneco has held since 1994) is not extended then the tower will be torn down. He added that if that happened the city and the district would lose a "significant percentage" of the revenue from its wells. Over the last ten years Veneco has paid over $30 million in revenues to Beverly Hills.
Roger Sherman, an LA architect and the author of L.A. Under the Influence: The Hidden Logic of Urban Property, calls the tower an "accidental landmark," a public anomaly forged through the resolution of conflict. (Its exterior panels were originally installed to minimize drilling sounds.) Several similar LA icons, "lessons in how the urban realm gets built," have also been lost in recent years. He described their loss as symbols not just of NIMBYism, but of a city that seems to want to ignore or whitewash its idiosyncratic history in favor of a "falsified version of its past," like the Grove or other Rick Caruso developments.

The architect of Omaha’s new rehabilitation hospital says his own paralysis has given him “greater empathy,” which has informed his designs for the healthcare industry. Local firm DLR Group and Texas-based engineering firm Page are working with Michael Graves, who lost the use of his legs in 2003 as the result of an infection, on the $93 million Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in west Omaha.
Expected to be complete in 2016, the facility will use technology to afford sedentary patients greater control over the TV, thermostat, nurse call system, and other things in their room.
Omaha’s World-Herald describes how Graves, 79, drew from personal experience while designing the 250,000-square-foot hospital:

Giving patients some control over their environment is important, said Graves and Patrick Burke, a principal in Graves' firm. Graves recalled one instance early in his rehab when he was being transferred from his bed to a chair using a motorized sling.
“I was getting into the chair that day and I was up in the air, in a sitting position over my chair but not in it yet. The nurse's aide's friend came in and said, 'It's time for our break.' So they left me there dangling in the air and they went on a break. That's as low as it gets.”

The average stay at Madonna is more than 30 days, but residents tend to be more mobile than many hospital patients. That creates a need for active social spaces, Graves said, but also a pitfall: many architects want hospitals to resemble hotels.
“Well, I don’t,” he told the Omaha World-Herald's Bob Glissmann. “I don't think it needs a big atrium and I don't think the rooms have to look like a hotel room. These are hospital rooms, and you want to have good care. What makes the difference is the empathy.”